Sigh

So once again we gaze in bewilderment upon a world in which someone who confronted and physically fought fascists is routinely accused of selling out to the Right, while someone who celebrated with their Canadian fellow fascists is viewed by some as a hero of the Left.

8 thoughts on “Sigh”

The fact is, the left and the right have both tried to claim Hitchens for their own in the past, but the fact is, he’s his own man, and although IMHO a complete tosser, he’s both his own man, unfettered by political affiliation, and unafraid to express his views. That doesn’t make him one of the goodies, but it does mean that sometimes he does stuff that is undeniably brave and sometimes even right (like standing up to fascists).

The one ideological stand that Hitchens does consistently make is that he’s one of the New Atheists, who are as political as they are philosophical (eg. many of them had no problems with torture and waterboarding and stuff if it was done to Muslims).

Galloway, on the other hand, is a purer lefty ideologue on paper, but a lot of people reckon he’s as corrupt as hell. Ever since he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother (while on constituency time), he’s not been taken seriously over here on the whole.

I’m not sure why some are so eager to pat Hitchens on the back for doing something so stupid. I don’t really care if he drew on an al-Qa’eda poster, it was foolish. Lebanon, arguably more than other countries in the region, is not the place a westerner needs to go around judging and lecturing people on their political affiliation.

“It was a miracle they didnâ€™t pull Kalashnikovs.”

Maybe not a miracle, but he’s damn lucky.

If a major magazine writer had done this in Iraq, say scribbled on a Mehdi Army poster…would they still have a job?

Well, I doubt Hitchens thought writing on a poster would get him pummeled. But I thought the multitude of leftie sites that chortled about him getting beaten by ten fascist thugs (and they are fascist, proudly so) was a bit sickening.